A small but long wire fractal antenna based on the Koch curve is presented. Experimental and numerical results show that the antenna improves the features of a common linear monopole. The radiation resistance is increased and the Q is reduced at each fractal iteration, approaching the fundamental limit on small antennas.

To provide heterogeneous quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees to applications, most wireless communications standards combine the error-correcting capability of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocols at the data link control layer with the adaptation ability of adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) strategies at the physical layer. In this paper, a novel cross-layer multidimensional discrete-time Markov chain (DTMC)-based queuing model is developed to jointly exploit the capabilities of HARQ and AMC. The analytical DTMC-based model, which generalizes and extends previous results on this topic, stems from a comprehensive consideration of packet multimedia traffic sources modeled as discrete-batch Markovian arrival processes, finite queue-length systems, truncated HARQ protocols, AMC strategies, and a wireless channel first-order 2-D Markov model that relies on the amplitude and rate of change of the fading envelope. Based on the stationary state probability distribution of this multidimensional DTMC, closed-form analytical expressions for performance metrics such as throughput, average packet delay, and packet loss rate, which were caused either by buffer overflow or by exceeding the maximum number of allowed retransmissions, are derived. Furthermore, the proposed analytical framework is used to formulate multidimensional and simplified 2-D constrained optimization problems aiming at maximizing the system throughput under prescribed QoS constraints. Computer simulation results are carried out to verify the validity of the proposed analytical model and to quantify the performance gain due to cross-layer optimization and the use of truncated HARQ protocols.

This paper proposes a novel framework for the cross-layer analysis and design of wireless networks combining adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) at the physical layer with an automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocol at the data-link layer. Most previous works rely on first-order amplitude-based finite-state Markov chains (AFSMCs) to model the physical layer. It is shown that these models present several deficiencies that could compromise the design of higher layer protocols. Thus, a physical-layer first-order 2-D Markov model using both the amplitude and the rate of change of the fading envelope is presented. Based on this multidimensional physical-layer Markov model, the quality-of-service (QoS) performance at the data-link layer is investigated through the use of two different approaches. The first one relies on an analytical framework based on a discrete-time Markov chain (DTMC) that jointly describes the statistical behavior of the arrival process, the queueing system, and the physical layer. The second one is based on the effective-bandwidth and effective-capacity theories. Both the DTMC-based and the effective-bandwidth/capacity-based approaches are analyzed and compared in combination with our proposed physical-layer first-order 2-D Markov model in a cross-layer design aiming to satisfy the required average packet loss probability constraint by maximizing the average throughput of the system. Numerical results show that our proposed framework represents a significant improvement over previous models.

Group-orthogonal multicarrier code-division multiple access (GO-MC-CDMA) has been proposed as an attractive multiplexing technique for the uplink segment of wireless systems. More recently, a variant of this scheme has also been proposed for the downlink. This paper presents a unified bit error rate (BER) performance analysis of group-orthogonal wireless systems when using maximum likelihood (ML) multiuser/multisymbol detection covering both link directions. Valuable design rules regarding the number of subcarriers per group and the selection of spreading codes are derived. Simulations results using realistic system parameters and ETSI BRAN channel models are also presented which serve to validate the analytical results.

This research work aims at analyzing the effects of using cooperative-ARQ (CARQ) in wireless relay systems employing AMC at the physical layer and an infinitely persistent type-I Hybrid FEC/CARQ protocol at the DLC layer. To that end, a cross-layer multidimensional discrete-time Markov chain (DTMC)-based queuing model is developed to jointly exploit the capabilities of CARQ and AMC. Based on the stationary state probability distribution of the proposed multidimensional DTMC, closed-form analytical expressions for performance metrics such as average throughput, queue length, packet delay and packet loss rate are derived, and the impact of cooperative relaying on these performance parameters is analyzed. Numerical results confirm the validity of the presented AMC/CARQ cross-layer analytical framework and reveal that the proposed CARQ protocol consistently outperforms the classical Type-I Hybrid FEC/ARQ schemes and provides a noticeable improvement when facing correlated fading channel scenarios.